After, reading “Capitalizing on
Capabilities,” by David Ulrich and Norm Small. I had to chuckle when the first
line mentioned an old employer I use to work for Nordstrom. Before, entering graduate school I worked at Nordstrom part-time
for three years. Honestly, if I was not attending CMU as of right now I would
still be at Nordstrom. I have even thought about trying to get a position in
their corporate headquarters after I graduate.
I would be lying to say that
every day was so great. Nordstrom is
still retail. But I will say that I learned a lot of vital skills and most
importantly I was able to see their organizational management and strategy in practice.
When, I first started working at
Nordstrom I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. One of the
things I didn’t realize when I first started working at Nordstrom is that my
part-time hours would be more like full-time hours. Later, I learned that if they
thought you were a good sales associate they scheduled you a lot. I didn’t realize my value at Nordstrom because
I always thought I could do better because of the healthy competition and the managers
encouraging and pushing us to improve on the sale goals and objectives for the
department and store. I appreciated being able to see results and
knowing what areas we needed to improve.
Secondly, I didn’t realize that I
would be in charge of my own business. My first day of training the
organizational chart was shown to us. They had the customers first then the
sales associates. I was not a believer at first. I figure that’s what all employers
say, that the employees are the most important. However, Nordstrom definitely tried
to put the sales associates first so that we could give excellent service to
our customers. Why would that be important?
Nordstrom believes in repeat business
because of excellent service. Nordstrom doesn’t advertise and they don’t have
to spend millions of dollars on commercials. Think, back have you ever seen a Nordstrom
commercial.
The whole store is commission
based. The commission is the biggest reason why I believe Nordstrom will always
stay on top as one of the industry leaders. Before, working at Nordstrom I had never
worked at a commission base store and at first I was nervous. But once I got
the hang of things I could easily make $200 dollars or more in one day. The commission
is where you get sucked into the culture of Nordstrom. Some sales associate’s
that worked at Nordstrom for years would not take a managerial job because they
made more money as a sales associate because of the commission. Nordstrom has
sales associates that make 6 figures.
Nordstrom not only valued their
sales associate. They of course do lots of things so that the most important
people on their organizational chart are satisfied their CUSTOMERS. Nordstrom
has a liberal return policy which, means they will take back pretty much
anything. The Nordstrom stores have restaurants and cafés. They began using
mobile devices to make the shopping experience quicker and less hassle. Nordstrom
offers personal shoppers, concierge service to their top customers, and they have
a holiday party that is a real treat for the customers.
A book was written by a Nordstrom
employee who worked at Nordstrom for twenty years called “Retail Hell: How I
sold my soul to the store.” This book is about the Nordstrom experience. Overall,
my Nordstrom experience was worthwhile. I still keep in touch with my Nordstrom
family and have even helped two of my friends get hired at Nordstrom.
Something that Nordstrom did
every year that kept the employees in the loop was by having a State of the Company
address given by the CEO of Nordstrom, Blake Nordstrom. He traveled to every store
to speak about where the company is headed, how the company did, and to let us
know we are important to the success of the company by giving us a bonus if the
company met its yearly goals.
In the article “Capitalizing on
Capabilities,” it was wise that they used Nordstrom as a model company to
follow. Nordstrom capitalizes on all possible ways to be strategic and innovative
to reach their bottom line. But the most important value that Nordstrom teaches
is to let employees have stake in the organization and company. To believe that
this billion dollar company started as just a small family shoe store in
Seattle.
Would you call this store Retail
Hell are just plain smart?
http://www.kare11.com/news/article/1004790/391/Nordstrom-to-open-at-Ridgedale-Center
http://brandonstewartcommunications.com/tag/volunteers/
http://jlwatsonconsulting.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/05/the-value-of-employee-judgement-in-customer-service-delivery.html
The
